TORRINGTON >> The new chief of Torrington High School and Middle School on Thursday said he’s ready to bring the graduation rate to 100 percent, implement Common Core and start new teacher evaluations.

“I think that the biggest challenge for that is making sure that all the necessary supports are in place. Every student learns differently, some students need more supports than others,” said Eric Baim, the recently hired head of both schools. He said administrators “shouldn’t be in education,” if they’re not ready to set 100 percent graduation goals.

Between the two schools, Baim heads more than 2,000 students and 200 staff members, seven assistant principals, two curriculum developers and a soon-to-be-hired director of guidance. He was hired in August after Superintendent Cheryl Kloczko announced a reorganization of secondary education.

In addition to graduation goals, teacher evaluations and curriculum standards also being upended this year.

Torrington’s teacher evaluation plan requires administrators to observe each teacher at least three times during the year, something district officials say has added hundreds of hours to administrators’ workloads. Previously, administrators observed teachers between once and three times per year.

Additionally, Common Core State Standards adopted by Connecticut are being implemented statewide. The new standards effect math and English curriculums throughout the state, and with them comes Smarter Balanced assessments, replacing “legacy” tests the CAPT and CMT.

“To be honest with you, I think the biggest challenge is the [Smarter Balanced] test,” said Baim. “The issue in my personal opinion is the test, and where do we go from there when we see the results of those tests,” he said. The Smart Balanced, sometimes called “s-back” by educators, are being partially implemented this year. Now, districts can choose to test their students using the Smarter Balanced assessment, CAPT and CMT, or both.

Additionally, students will also be tested using the district’s assessment, which is used to evaluate teachers. This year, Torrington followed a statewide trend, with a dip in CAPT and CMT scores. State educators said that’s because the Common Core was partially implemented, and not aligned to the “legacy” tests.

About graduation, Baim said the goal would be difficult even with a “passionate” staff.

He said he wished he had more math and reading specialists, and social workers to work with students.

“Having the ability to have math specialists come in and work with kids, reading specialists come in and work with kids, more social workers in place to help students who have issues outside of school that distract them and take away from school,” said Baim. “We’re not the only district that needs all that,” he said.